The Bonfire
by la plus heureuse
Summary: Seventh year. As Heads and as boyfriend and girlfriend, James is looking forward to spending the Halloween Ball with Lily. But after she finds something upsetting, he realizes she needs the answer to her questions more- why won't anyone talk about Samhain? Fluff, Oneshot, COMPLETE.


James Potter had never thought that he might be made Head Boy. It was obvious that Lily Evans would be Head Girl, but to imagine actually dating her was far fetched. But here they were, late in October in their seventh year. The world was dark, and Lily had apparently gotten some upsetting letter she didn't want to speak about, and James was seriously worried about Remus' health, but still. Joy as resistance to evil and all that. He was in love with his beautiful girlfriend, Samhain was quickly approaching, and they had their own living space.

The Head's dorm was not exceptionally large. They each had a small bedroom, and they shared a bathroom between them on the second level. A sweeping set of stairs led down to the main level, where there was a living area with fireplaces, a small study alcove of a table and chairs surrounded by bookshelves, and a kitchenette. Not the luxury appointment he had heard rumors about, but still nice enough. The two of them spent much of their time at the Head's Dorm alone, but it was nice to have their friends over. It felt a bit like playing house, or looking into their future.

They had all decamped to the Head's dorm after dinner, and the narrow table by the couches was littered with sweets and crisps. Lily was playing Exploding Snap with Mary and Marlene. James was trying to sketch her, getting her just right. He had spent much of the past summer practicing drawing, and Lily had been his favorite model of late. The trick, he was finding, was capturing the posture- the way she jutted her chin forward, or tipped her head just so.

"Oi, Prongs, you want to play?" Peter called from the table in the study nook, gesturing to a set of wizarding chess. Lily glanced up.

"Who's Prongs?" she said. Peter suddenly looked nervous. That idiot.

"Peter's just teasing me." James tried to sound cool and collected.

"How'd that nickname come about?"

"It's- ah- from my Halloween costume," James lied rapidly. Behind Lily's shoulder Remus was pretending to read, his jaw tense. "For the Halloween Ball."

"What kind of costume would result in that name?"

"I'm a stag," James said. Lily arched an eyebrow.

"Because you'll be-"

"Going stag, yeah," James finished. "My girlfriend won't do a couple's costume."

Lily studied him for a moment, then gave a soft chuckle. "I suppose you can be clever sometimes."

"Only sometimes? Evans, you wound me."

Lily turned back to her game with a soft smile on her face, and Sirius joined Peter at the chessboard. Remus and James exchanged glances. It was too close. Remus gave a half shrug, then returned to his book. James turned back to his sketchbook, trying to figure out how to be a stag. He still had three days until the ball.

It ended up being fairly simple. He transfigured a hat into long antlers, and charmed his least favorite set of robes to resemble fur. He didn't need to get too detailed into costume. It wasn't like his parent's costume parties, where everyone committed to a high degree. Next year he would take Lily, he decided. Their couple's costume would be non-negotiable, and she would love the Samhain rituals after the party.

But for now- he studied himself one last time. He was certainly passable. But really, a stag, when he almost convinced Lily they should dress as John and Yoko.

He crossed the small landing to knock on Lily's door. "Evans! You ready?" Lily had disappeared into her room hours ago to get ready, and she wouldn't disclose her costume. James was half worried she'd go without one.

The door opened. They had already discovered that James was not allowed in her bedroom, though Lily could enter James's. James stared at Lily. Lily blushed.

"You look wonderful," he finally said when he could trust himself to talk. But that sounded too cheesy. He tried for something more teasing. "Knew you had it in you."

Lily's long hair was shinier than usual, and braided into an elaborate crown. The hours she had been locked away suddenly made sense. She wore a short, pleated white dress fastened with silver broaches, and had sandals on her feet. They laced up her pale calves, ending just underneath her knees with tempting little ties. All of her exposed skin glowed like the moonlight. She looked like something spun out of a dream.

"It might be a little soon," she said nervously.

"Nah, it's apt," James said. "Because if anyone kills me it's going to be you. Where's your bow?"

"I couldn't manage that one in time," Lily confessed. "The hair took too long."

James shook his head in mock disgust. "Come on," he said. "What's Artemis without her weapon?"

He walked into his room and Lily followed. He grabbed the first thing he could see- a candlestick. A few incantations later it was a bow. The candle paired with the candlestick was a quiver full of arrows.

"I don't know how efficient these will be for the hunt," he said seriously, "but they should manage in a pinch."

"Adequate enough," Lily leaned forward and kissed James on the cheek. She smelled soft, like amber and earth.

"Just like you. Now let's go."

The Great Hall was decorated with enormous pillars of candles formed into giant reliefs of wax. Pumpkins were bobbing in the sky, and bats were flying around the hall.

"Spooky," Lily said, her face twisted in disapproval of the decorations. Lily hated bats. James laughed.

"Very," he said, and brushed his hand against her shoulder. Lily shivered.

"Come on," she said, "we've got to oversee the ball."

Overseeing the ball amounted to waltzing with Lily for the first dance, stopping Bartelby Billings from spiking the punch, sending Sirius a warning look when he tried to spike the punch, and making regular sweeps of the perimeter. James had to keep his wand on him- he knew that Snivellius and his group of Slytherins might take this as an opportunity to do something, but he didn't know what.

It was rather a bummer, in fact. He wished that he could just take the evening as an opportunity to dance with Lily and laugh with his friends and try to spike the punch. But Lily was distracted and upset as well. It was a year of firsts for her, but he hadn't thought Halloween would be this hard. Her fingers were twitching and kept reaching for her hem, where James knew she had put her wand in a thigh holster. It would have been sexy if it hadn't been so upsettingly necessary.

James turned his attention back to his responsibilities. A fourth-year boy told a girl to dance with him and she refused. He tried to grab her arm to pull her out onto the dancefloor. She hexed him.

"Bitch!" the boy swore.

"10 points from Gryffindor for language," James said. "And leave her alone or it will be detention as well."

The boy looked like he was going to fight James on it, when Lily came up, looking pale and upset.

"There's a cat in a trap."

None of those words were as serious as her face, and so James quickly followed her.

There was a small closet off the great hall. "I was checking here to make sure no one was getting fresh," Lily explained as she opened the door. "But listen." Once they were inside in the closet they could hear a panicked mewing.

"Silencing charms," Lily said. "And there's this cage that I can't open."

There was a wire cage where a white kitten was, its paws encased in some sort of goo. The cage was just small enough for the cat to stand. It was clearly terrified, hissing and mewing and trying to pull its paws out over and over as it kept sinking down.

"Monsters," James said.

"Who would do such a thing?"

"It's a terrible trick," James said. "Someone's planning on sacrificing this one."

Lily huffed. "All month, people have been telling me that no one celebrates Samhain anymore, and now I find that everyone has been lying to me."

"I'll tell you everything you want to know once this is over," James promised. The goo was like quicksand. He could maybe transfigure it- but to what? And it couldn't be that easy. James mentioned that to Lily.

"That's not what I'm concerned about. The mixture isn't stable. Look, the edges are separating. I can take care of that."

"Are you sure?"

"We did that in potions last month. But the cage won't open," Lily snapped. James eyed it. He had seen one like that before, at the Black Family household when he used to sneak over to visit Sirius in the summer.

"Yes it will," James said. "But not for you."

"What-"

"Whoever had made this didn't plan on having much time, so let's do this."

Lily nodded, her face stern once more. "One, two," she whispered, and then where three would have been there was a flash of light, and the goo had fallen apart into blood and mud and some powder among the floor. The cat was even more scared, and James swiftly cut his thumb with his wand to press the bloody print into the bars. The cage clattered opened, and he grabbed the kitten out. He hurriedly put it into the inner pocket of his robes.

"Come on," Lily murmured, and they fled out the door.

Not many people seemed to have noticed them. Some people smirked as Lily brushed the few loose strands from her braid out of her face. James adopted a haughty, pleased expression as he scanned the crowd. Mulciber was watching him more closely than he liked, and Mulicber's eyes slid to the door. James would bet every galleon to his name it had been him to trap the cat. That would explain the shoddy spellwork.

James pulled Lily close. "We are going to continue smiling and pretending to have a good time. We are going to grab a glass of punch. And then we can sneak away and I will explain this all to you."

James crossed over to the table, one hand on his robe, one holding Lily. She broke into a large smile when she saw Marlene, and the two of them were soon chatting away.

Lily was good at playing happy. You had to know her well to see that she wasn't. Her smile was too large. Her eyes were just a little wild. Her laugh was a bit delayed. James had seen it all She in sixth year, when her Dad was sick, and then when... But she was successfully chatting while James struggled to conceal the motions in his inner pocket. He murmured a calming charm to the kitten and began to feel its breathing relax against his chest. James took a drink and scanned the crowd.

Mulciber was talking with Avery now. Then Avery broke away from his date, the very pretty Iole Greengrass, and crossed the dance floor. Greengrass didn't look too disappointed to lose him. Snivellius was sulking against the wall, and Avery hurriedly whispered to him. Snivellius snapped something. Avery hurried away. James didn't blame him, even if Avery was almost as slippery as Snivellius.

Snivellius turned towards the door- what was he supposed to be in those enormous black robes, some sort of bat?- that James and Lily had escaped from. Snivellius looked across the room at James and glared hard at him. He'd certainly try to curse him in the corridors again over this.

"Let's go dance," James said to Lily and pulled her onto the dance floor. The floor was crowded with people, and James caught Lily as they moved in time to the beat.

"What now?"

"We keep an eye out."

"It's him, isn't it?"

James just held Lily tighter. Her face went through an amazing permeation of fury, then sadness, then grief, then a blank sort of pleasantness. James recognized that look well from sixth year. Lily did not seem to want to speak. This too was like sixth year. And so James did what he had then, he just continued to hold her as they danced, barely changing tempo with the songs.

The ball was set to continue until midnight, but the dance floor started to empty around ten-thirty. There were certain to be parties held in common rooms, or in unused classrooms for the bolder. Sirius was planning his own for the Astronomy Tower. The group of Slytherins were some of the first to leave. Lily's shoulders relaxed when she saw Snivellius depart. At almost eleven-thirty James told McGonagall that the two of them were taking their own leave. She nodded, and assured James that she was capable of taking care of everything else.

"Keep your wand ready," James whispered to Lily as they started to head back to the tower.

"You don't have to tell me such basic things," she snapped. But they made it to the heads tower unscathed.

The kitten was asleep now. James carefully untangled her- it was a her, it seemed, and Lily began to cast scorgifies. The kitten woke up and yowled. It seems the calming charm had worn off.

"Elves, please," Lily said, and one appeared. The elf bowed deeply.

"Could we please get some food and milk for this kitten?"

"Of courses," the elf said in its papery old voice, and quickly disappeared and returned with some cream and a cold filet of cod. The kitten sniffed at it for several moments before deciding to eat. She began carefully, but soon was devouring her fish with little, sharp teeth.

"So," Lily said. "Some sort of Samhain sacrifice, and a cage that only opens for blood."

"For the blood of a pureblood," James said. "It's just like the one at the Black household."

Lily looked as if there were hundreds of things that she wanted to say, but she could not narrow it down. "Is that how wizards celebrate Samhain? Is that why no one would tell me? No one tells me anything! Not my friends, not my boyfriend, not my sister-" Lily had begun pacing.

James put out his arms and pulled Lily towards him. He was sitting, and embracing her standing, with his head resting against her stomach. After a moment she began to run her hands through his hair.

"It's not. It's a dark ritual, outlawed. They want to do it tonight because they think it will be more powerful. That's not what Samhain is about. But what's this about Petunia?"

Lily hesitated, before she sat down next to James. The kitten was now lapping up the cream.

"Petunia is engaged," Lily said in a quiet voice. "She didn't tell me herself. Mum wrote about it. Mum didn't even break the news. She must have thought I already knew."

James grabbed Lily and pulled her closer. He draped an arm around her shoulder, and they watched the kitten finish every last drop of cream. The kitten then curled up at Lily's feet.

"I think you're stuck with her now," James teased, and Lily laughed.

"At least something's come out of this rubbish night," Lily said softly.

James sat up. "Go get changed."

"What?"

"Put on your warm clothes, and then meet me back down here." James had a reckless sort of idea, the kind that were the foundations of his happiest nights.

"What are we doing?"

"We're going to celebrate Samhain, of course."

They both hurried to their rooms to change, and James took the moment to grab a few supplies. He was still ready before Lily was. Lily came down in what James thought of as her "muggle clothes"- those heavy blue pants, a warm checkered shirt. Her hair was still in its beautiful braided crown. She wore boots and a heavy cloak over the whole thing.

"Where are we going?"

"Do you trust me?"

Lily sighed. "I suppose so," but she was smiling. James pulled out his cloak, and pulled Lily close to him.

"Right," he said, and then he threw the cloak over them.

"What are we doing, James," Lily said. She sounded deeply confused and a little annoyed.

"Hold your hand out in front of your face."

Lily did so and she gasped. "What is this?"

"An invisibility cloak," James said. "It's been in my family for ages, no one really knows how long. So yeah, we'll have to be quiet and move slow, but no one will see us."

"Right," Lily said, and grasped onto James' arm. Her touch sent shivers up his spine, and she scootched in closer to him. "This is mad," she murmured, and James could feel the warmth from her breath.

Lily stuck close to James as they snuck through the castle. And she was true to her word- she did trust him. She didn't question where they were going. When he led her into a broom cabinet she waited while he touched a perfectly ordinary-looking stone.

"_Leig dhomh," _he murmured, and the stones began to slide aside.

Lily took her first visit to a secret passage well. She glanced around with a lot of curiosity, but did not ask any questions. This surprised James. But perhaps in the moment it was all a bit much. He'd surely be answering dozens of questions soon.

It was one of the shorter passages of the castle, and then they were exiting the castle itself. James continued leading the way until they were at the banks of the lake, and then a little further until there was a small, sandy area.

"Here we are," James said, and he gently grasped the cloak to pull it off of them.

Lily looked around. "What now?"

"Now we set the fire."

Lily helped gather the logs, and she seemed to know exactly what she was looking for. When James asked about it she brushed the question off.

"We used to spend the holidays camping," she said. "Back when Dad was still well."

"So you know what to do, then," James said to cut the tension, and Lily nodded. She focused on arranging the wood, then used her wand to start the blaze.

Lily made a good fire. It was burning hot and bright, and it set everything into relief. The shadows on her face made her look even more striking and James felt a sharp pang in his chest when he looked at her. He made himself look away. They were here for a purpose.

He pulled out of his pocket a flask of firewhisky and three short tin cups. It had been years since he had seen his mother do this, but he could remember the basic form. That was the thing with the ritual magic- intention mattered more than perfection.

"We're going to greet the dead," James said softly. "And for it to be successful we need to think thoughts of love and gratitude and welcoming. Can you do that?"

"Yes," Lily whispered. She was standing as close to the fire as she could, her cloak wrapped even more tightly around her.

James cleared his throat and began to speak out in a clear, audible voice. Whispering like it was a secret would anger the dead, and that was a far worse threat than pissing off McGonagall.

"Tonight is Samhain," he said, "the night the veil between the living and the dead is at its thinnest. As such, we welcome the spirits of the land. We wish you no harm. We have brought offerings to prove our intention."

He placed the three tin cups on a nearby rock and poured a measure of firewhisky into each. He passed one cup to Lily and kept one cup for himself.

"We bring you firewhisky, the water of life made longer in this land than living memory. It provides us with strength and it will do the same to you. We drink to you."

James took a deep swallow of the firewhisky, and Lily beside him did the same. It burned the back of his through beautifully. He did not yet know if Lily liked firewhisky. He supposed he'd ask after the ritual. James reached back into his cloak and pulled out a loaf of bread.

"We have also brought the fruit of the harvest. The land has been tilled, the wheat tended, the grain milled, and the bread baked. It is through your generous help that we are fed, and we thank you."

James ripped off a piece, and put the rest of the bread on the stone, next to the third cup. He tore the piece in his hand in two, and passed one to Lily. He ate his and she ate hers. It was rough and sturdy, and James longed for another drink of firewhisky to wash it down. That would have to wait.

"I am James Potter, and I call the spirits of my grandparents, Henry Potter and Elizabeth Fleamont Potter."

There was a shift in the feeling of the air. James was never certain after the Samhain ritual was true, but he always believed during the ceremony. He reveled in that feeling.

"Grandmum, Grandpap, thank you for being here tonight. This is Lily." James gestured towards Lily, and she gave a small wave. She didn't think it was foolish, James realized, and his heart swelled.

"Lily is cleverest, kindest, and bravest witch I've ever met, and she matters a great deal to me." He would definitely scare Lily off if he confessed to his deceased grandparents he was in love with her in front of her.

"We are here tonight to thank you for your gifts- for the protection your name has given us, for your cloak of invisibility, for your guidance every Samhain. Thank you for-" James hesitated, unsure of where to go now.

"Thank you for bringing James into this world," Lily said softly and touched James' arm. He swallowed hard.

"Stay with us still," James finished. He nodded towards Lily. "Do you want a go?"

She swallowed hard and stepped forward. The fire reflected off her bright hair, making her look fearsome and sharp. But when she spoke her voice was shaking.

"Spirits, I am Lily Evans, a muggle-born witch. I call my father, Jack Evans."

The wind whipped around, and Lily lifted her head up. And James felt it, he felt the warmth of her dad being there. It was stronger than anything he had ever felt- warm like a bath surrounding them in this cool night.

"Dad?" Lily said, and she started crying. "Oh, Dad."

James wrapped his arms around Lily. "You're doing so well," he whispered. "Keep going."

Lily swallowed hard and wiped her eyes.

"Dad, this is James. You heard me complain about him a lot over the years. But we're dating now. I know you have questions, but he cares so much about me. He's been taking care of me ever since you left. I couldn't have made it through without him."

Lily gave a great sob. "I miss you Dad. Mum is so lonely without you, and Petunia is barely speaking to me. You always helped me put things in perspective. It's not fair, and I don't know what to do."

Lily was freely crying now. "It's a hard world, Dad. I need you. I need your help being brave. Will you?" The warmth around them grew. Lily stopped sobbing. Her breath started to even out, and she squared her shoulders.

"Thank you, Dad," she said simply.

"Mr. Evans, stay with us still," James said, and Lily squeezed her hand.

"And now what?" she asked.

"We keep the fire burning until dawn," James said. "And we talk about whatever it is you want."

Lily had so many stories about her Dad. She didn't tell about the sickness. James knew so much about that already, when they were just becoming friends halfway through sixth year and suddenly Lily was spending her free periods sobbing. Instead she told James happy stories, about how miraculous he found the wizarding world, about their camping trips, about how disappointed he had been when Petunia began supporting Manchester United instead of Manchester City.

They sat on a rock next to the offerings, sipping the firewhisky from the flask, getting up occasionally to add more wood to the fire. Lily did like firewhisky, it seemed. It was miraculously calm. They could hear the lap of the lake against the shore, the crackle of the fire.

"Why would no one tell me about this?" Lily asked a few hours into the fire. "It's so wonderful. I feel purified."

James sighed. That was the thorny issue at the heart of all the secrecy. "To say you use the rituals now, it's like saying you support Voldemort."

"What?" Lily sputtered. James's heart fluttered at her anger.

"He keeps talking about taking the wizarding world back to its former greatness," James could not even think about this without getting angry. "And so people think that if they admit to following the old ways, they're saying they support Voldemort. It's another reason to hate him- he's perverting all these meaningful old rituals and turning them into something disgusting."

"Like the kitten?'

"Probably meant to ask some bloodthirsty spirits for power. It doesn't work like that, though. You need a waning moon, not a waxing. And you're giving up much more than someone else's life," James snorted. "Bloody wankers don't even know the power they're messing with."

"I know," Lily said. "About Prongs, I mean."

James froze. "What about it?" The fire gave a hearty crack of the wood and he almost jumped.

Lily rolled her eyes. "You don't have to pretend. If you're clever enough to become an animagus you're clever enough to not play dumb."

"Why would you-"

"You did it for Remus, didn't you?"

James was struck silent.

"Don't worry," Lily said. "I've been keeping it a secret for two years. Besides, knowing what you would do for him makes me like you more. So, don't worry"

It seemed his confirmation was not necessary. James wrapped an arm around her. She snuggled into his chest. "What are you going to name your cat?"

"I think Artemis," she said. "Huntress and all."

"It fits you to have a cat named Artemis."

Lily smiled. "It feels strange that this is the last year. It makes me wonder what will come next."

"Divination is traditional on Samhain," James said. "My mum taught me scrying. I could try for you."

Lily paused, then pursed her lips. "No," she said slowly, drawing out the word. "No, I think not. I'd rather find out for myself what the future holds- unless you think the spirits will be mad if we don't."

James smiled at her. "The spirits should be just fine with us finding out for ourselves," he said, and Lily gave him a brilliant smile.

Would she tell this story to their future children? Would this be the night she fell in love with him? James did not think of himself as cocky- he was merely confident. Lily had not been in love with him before. But tonight she might be. Tonight she could be.

Their talk turned to future plans and for this short time they pretended there was no war coming. James could play quidditch, or take over the family business of potioneering, or pursue art. His career was not the part of the future he was confident about. Lily wanted to be a reporter. But a proper reporter, not a gossip columnist. She wanted people to be able to find the truth. She wanted to live in the country, in a cottage. She wanted a garden and space to run free. She wanted some peace. James wanted to give her that peace, and he said that impulsively. Lily grasped his hand, and they listened together to the warm silence.

The sky started to lighten and they cast the last logs onto the bonfire. This way it would burn out after sunrise. They had kept their vigil, even though Lily pointed out that they hadn't started at sundown. James accused her of being too literal. Lily beamed at the criticism. And they began to sneak back into the castle, back under the cloak, through the passageway, and into the castle. Lily asked the expected questions about how James had learned about the secret passage. He told her about his nighttime shenanigans, about how many times he'd explored the castle. The stories turned to whispers as they crept back through the corridors, and into the head's dormitory.

They had no classes until the afternoon because of the Halloween ball. James thought Lily might want to escape to her own room atter the intensity of their evening, but instead she sat down on the couch. Lily patted the couch next to her, and James sat beside her. She immediately shifted to laying on the couch, using James' lap as a pillow.

"That's a naughty trick," James laughed.

"I thought you liked naughty girls," Lily teased. She gave an enormous yawn and closed her eyes. She was asleep in moments.

James stroked her cheek as he watched her fall into deep, then deeper sleep. She was so lovely. Looking at her was like looking at the sun- brilliant and blinding. He looked towards the ground, where he saw Artemis curled up next to the couch. She hadn't been there when they entered. It seems she had accepted Lily as her protector.

It was a wise choice of Artemis, James thought. And with that thought he closed his eyes himself, falling asleep as the first beams of dawn shone through their windows.

_a/n I've been having an intense case of writer's block recently, but James and Lily came through for me. I love writing them, and I'm hoping to dwell more in their relationship and life in future works. The Samhain traditions portrayed are cobbled together from some internet research about early Celtic practices and some imagination about how tradition might play out in the wizarding world. They are not meant to be a portrayal of contemporary religious practices, nor should they be taken as such. _


End file.
